LSU men’s basketball is having a rollercoaster of a season so far, and it’s only played about a third of the schedule. Each time the Tigers experience an up, the downs hit them just as hard.
The Tigers have gone through almost everything that could happen to a team in a Power Four conference. From big wins to frustrating losses, here’s what has happened so far for head coach Matt McMahon and the Tigers.
McMahon worked hard in the offseason to improve his track record at LSU for his fourth year. He did everything modern coaches are expected to do, despite not loving the active state of the transfer portal in recent years.
During preseason press conferences, McMahon said he loves developing players but respects the game enough to strive to be elite as a coach. Because of this, McMahon hit the portal hard.
Before the 2025-2026 season began, the Tigers had eight transfers, and five of them have become routine starters for LSU. It didn’t take long for the coaching staff and fans to see the biggest issue with the five starters being transfers: a lack of communication.
These issues greatly impacted LSU’s defensive ability early. It quickly stuck out as a weak point for the Tigers, but wasn’t a big deal — at first.
LSU began the season 12-1 with a sole loss to Texas Tech entering conference play. The team was overall getting better each game, gelling more each time they took the court together, until disaster struck.
In early December, redshirt junior forward Jalen Reed went down mid-game. A day before the one-year anniversary of his ACL tear in 2024, Reed tore his left Achilles tendon and underwent surgery.
McMahon and the team were rightfully devastated to have such a crucial member of the team injured.
“We are absolutely heartbroken and devastated for Jalen,” McMahon said. “His journey back to the court has been inspiring to everyone in our program … We look forward to supporting him in his recovery and cannot wait to see him back on the basketball court.”
Despite Reed being out for the season, the team continued to push forward and bring home wins in the process. Communication improved, and players started to make names for themselves.
Each one began to fall into a clear-cut role, and the name at the front of it all was Dedan Thomas Jr.
Thomas is a junior guard for the Tigers, and he led the team in scoring during the preseason with 16.2 points per game. He was a solid fixture in the lineup, and alongside Marquel Sutton and Mike Nwoko, LSU was putting a lot of points on the board each game.
But again, as the team reached the top of an uphill battle, a break in the slope was revealed.
Prior to the game against Texas A&M, LSU announced that Thomas would not play due to a lower leg injury. This opened the door for the Aggies to turn to Sutton as the next person to shut down. Along with the shaky defense LSU showcased throughout the nonconference season, it was a recipe for disaster, and this time, a big one.
The Tigers barely lost the shootout against A&M, but the game was down to the wire that it could’ve been chalked up to a few missed opportunities or shots. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
The purple and gold went on to play South Carolina and Vanderbilt and have yet to come away with a win, losing both games by double-digit numbers. It seems that more schools have taken advantage of the situation LSU has found itself in.
Despite beginning SEC play 0-3, there is some good news on the horizon for the Bayou Bengals and their fans. Thomas is considered day-to-day and could possibly play against Kentucky.
“It’s a day-to-day injury,” McMahon said. “He’s making tremendous progress. He wants to be on the floor more than anything. He’s in treatment 15-16 hours a day, doing everything in his power to get back. We’re certainly not going to risk putting him on the floor too early, but we’ll see how he responds today.”
With a third of the schedule down and so many moving parts working together, there’s going to be a tough road ahead. But, you know what they say, everything good comes from something more challenging.
